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Texas Radio Ad, Website Target California Businesses

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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Texas has gone hunting and officials in the Lone Star State are setting their sights on California businesses.

Radio ads will run for a week on stations in Sacramento, San Francisco and three other media markets in the state. The goal is to snatch up unhappy businesses here and invite them to Texas.

“Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible.”

That’s Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a new radio ad campaign aiming to poach California business to move. In the ad Perry goes on to say Texas is the place to be for business.

“Low taxes, sensible regulations and a fair legal system are just the thing to get your business moving to Texas,” he says.

Those just a few of the reasons the governor gives to get California businesses to jump ship.

Restaurant owner Derar Zawaydeh agrees it can be tough to do business as a business in California,

“I think that we are over-regulated,” he said. “There is a point where it has to be equitable for everybody.”

He says picking up and moving might be tougher for him. But Texas is hoping to make it very easy to make the switch. The website texaswideopenforbusiness.com coincides with the ad campaign launch, targeting right at California businesses. The site even features a tab called “Start My Move” next to text that says “California Regulates … Texas Innovates.”

Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg says last year California added more jobs than Texas, Oregon and West Virginia combined.

“Some may call it aggressive,” he said of Texas’ campaign. “I’d call it desperate.”

He says businesses want to be in California but adds the state has work to do in reforming regulations so companies don’t have a reason to leave.

“We have a lot of work to do, but I’d take California any day,” he said.

TexasOne, a public-private partnership that markets Texas nationally, paid for the radio ads. We put in a call to them Monday to see how effective they think the ads will be, but we didn’t hear back.